What is SAP Flexible Workflow?

Flexible Workflow is a new workflow model designed to facilitate workflow configurations. The workflow model has features that can send instant notifications to users via Fiori screens. In this way, sales documents such as offers, orders, contracts can be approved, rejected or sent for processing. In this blog post, we will discuss the details about SAP Flexible Workflow.

What is the flexible workflow in SAP?

SAP Flexible workflow is a new concept and a general function that aims to simplify workflow configurations. It allows you to create a condition-based flexible workflow for sourcing and procurement approval processes. It is also used for approve procurement documents such as purchase requisitions, purchase orders, requests for quotations, or supplier invoices in Sourcing and Procurement.

For example, the approval process for a PO. Any PO over €2,000 requires manager approval. Over €6,000 requires two levels of approval.

Flexible workflow expands SAP Business Workflow, enhancing its accessibility, reach, and flexibility to suit growing cloud-based innovation needs..

Flexible workflow enables business process specialists to build workflows using predefined workflow scenario and tasks. This means that flexible workflows stick to the same principles but can be developed with SAP Fiori application without the need for development tools.

What are the advantages of Flexible Workflow?

Flexible workflows are based on predefined application objects such as activities, workflow scenarios, step and start conditions. With the Manage Workflows application, your business process professionals can perform workflow modelling according to business needs through predefined objects and integrated functions.

Flexible workflows can be customized through the scenarios that can be created and made suitable according to the needs of your processes without needing any development. Also, key users can make changes and edit these scenarios without needing developers. Process flows can be configured, recipients can be assigned or initial conditions can be configured. These custom workflows can be defined through the Fiori app and approval action can also take place in the same environment. There are many options to determine the approvers and flexible workflow has an option to specify when the workflow step will be triggered according to the condition. One-step or multi-step approval processes can be defined depending on your requirements. Compared to classical workflows, flexible workflows have lower costs.

What are flexible workflow scenario types?

Flexible workflows are divided into two different categories: standard flexible scenarios and special flexible scenarios.

Standard Flexible Scenarios

To meet approval flows, there are many classic workflow templates for processes such as purchase request approval, and invoice approval. SAP offers similar flexible workflow templates for standard approval flows in SAP S4 HANA. SAP has also created help documents for the correct implementation of these templates. Standard flexible scenarios are a non-coded or low-coded option for the SAP S/4HANA system. Business process professionals can quickly configure and go live with these standard scenarios when they need approval flow for standard transactions.

Custom Flexible Scenarios

Standard templates sometimes cannot fulfil some scenarios. In such cases, SAP offers the flexibility to create custom scenarios in special cases that the requesting party fills in and sends for approval. The approving party checks and approves the data. After approval, the data is transferred to SAP.

These transactions do not have a standard template because they are a special need. Therefore, a special scenario and workflow must be created. Workflow templates are created in SAP Fiori with the Manage Workflows application.

What is the difference between Classical Workflow and Flexible workflow in SAP?

Classical workflows are classic workflows offered by SAP and created using a workflow builder. Also known as simple workflows or workflow templates. A classic workflow requires technical knowledge through SAP Business Workflow. Less flexible in making changes to workflow processes

Flexible workflows are reusable templates that can create versatile customized workflows in different sequences instead of single, complex workflows. Conditional workflows. Triggering depends on a condition being met. This feature facilitates the structuring of business process flows. The conditions and process flow for the resulting workflows can be configured via the Fiori Manage Workflow application.

How are flexible workflows used for purchase requisitions?

Flexible workflow supports the development of one-step or multi-step approval processes and depending on the requirements in each step one or more approvers can be assigned to the processes for purchase requisitions. Approvers of the defined approval process can be assigned by a role or they can be assigned in teams as well as individuals depending on the need of the system, by using the app My Inbox the approvers can approve or reject the process work items. Purchase orders are approved automatically if there are not any defined workflows for the process. In order to take control of the approval process flexible workflows are needed. Approvers can get notified through SAP Fiori launchpad or with emails about the new work items and purchasers can get informed by emails whether their purchase order has been approved or rejected.

For more detailed information about flexible workflow, you can contact our SAP Fiori consultants by filling out the form on our "Contact" page.

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What steps should be followed in order to configure the flexible workflow for purchase order?

• Performing the workflow customizing activities.
• Creating the approvers.
• Managing Teams as the approvers of the work items.
• Defining people who are responsible for the accounting objects.
• Defining the logic, the custom fields, and preconditions for the start and the steps of the workflow.
• Managing and defining the main activities of the workflows for purchase requisitions such as determining the workflow scenario, approvers, defining the approval steps and their orders, and activating the workflow.
• Translating the texts and the content created for the workflow.
• Configuring the email notifications that are going to be sent to approvers and requesters and maintaining the email templates.

Along with the configuration optionally transporting the workflow from quality to production can be done as well as troubleshooting the errors and the issues of the workflow and the updating of the recipients.

What steps should be followed in order to configure the flexible workflow for purchase orders?

• Performing the workflow customizing activities.
• Creating the approvers.
• Defining people who are responsible for the accounting objects.
• Defining the logic, the custom fields, and preconditions for the start and the steps of the workflow.
• Defining the start and approval steps preconditions and the order for the checking of the preconditions along with determining the recipients and the activation of the workflow.
• Translating the texts and the content created for the workflow.
• Configuring the email notifications that are going to be sent to approvers and requesters and maintaining the email templates.

Along with the configuration optionally transporting the workflow from quality to production can be done as well as troubleshooting the errors and the issues of the workflow and the updating of the recipients. 

How to use the app: Manage Workflows for Journal Entry Verification?

With this app for finance, you can build workflows for your business needs and activate them. In this app, you can define preconditions to start a workflow for the journal entries and currency adjustments. For verification, you can create, edit, and activate workflows and you can also define step sequence and exception handling such as when a workflow ends.

What is Maintain email templates app?

Maintain email tablet app allows you to define email templates so that you can arrange custom emails with your flexible workflow number without needing any development. Users can also get notified about the work items via email along with the Fiori launchpad notifications. You can create custom templates through this tool where you can define subject and body text and create language-specific variants. To write the content of the email dynamically you can use parameters and since the tool is fully HTML supported, through the hyperlink in the email users can view the request in their inbox directly and dynamically.

Benefits of Flexible Workflow

• Instead of creating one large, complex workflow, you can design several flexible workflow scenarios for a procurement document.
• Preconditions can be used to start a process and decide whether a workflow step is appropriate.
• You can specify the steps that the approver should take for each operation.
• Parallel approval is supported for any of the steps
• You can specify what should happen next when the approver decides to reject the work item with exception handling.
• Supports push notifications
• It provides integration with the SAP-recommended Fiori My Inbox application.